Orgeron sounded more confident about linebacker Morgan Breslin (hip strain), who has practiced less than Lee. Breslin went through the full practice Wednesday and rotated with J.R. Tavai in drills.

``I think he’s going to play,’’ Orgeron said. ``I think he’s going to be fine. He got some reps, said he felt well.’’

Tailback Tre Madden (hamstring) didn’t practice, but Orgeron said he thought Madden would ``have a role to play’’ against Notre Dame. Orgeron didn’t say who would start at tailback, if not Madden. Receiver Victor Blackwell (ankle) did not practice but tight end Xavier Grimble (shoulder) returned.

USC got good injury news Sunday, and the best of it didn’t even involve Marqise Lee.

Lee, the All-America receiver who missed last Thursday’s game with a sprained knee, did sprints while teammates practiced Sunday, and Lee is considered ``questionable’’ to play at Notre Dame on Saturday.

That would be a high-impact return for the Trojans, but perhaps not as critical as the return of cornerback Anthony Brown, who hasn’t played since he sprained his knee Aug. 29 at Hawaii. Brown was a starter then, and his return against Notre Dame would likely boost what has been USC’s weakest position.

Brown was a full participant in practice Sunday, and if he’s ready to play, he will almost certainly supplant Torin Harris as a starting cornerback opposite Kevon Seymour. Harris struggled mightily against Arizona.

Arizona quarterback B.J. Denker, not known for a particularly strong arm, passed for 363 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions, and Arizona nearly rallied in the fourth quarter but lost 38-31.

USC held a 90-minute practice Friday that was closed to media members. USC did not make Coach Lane Kiffin or any players available after the practice, and no starting quarterback was announced for Thursday's season opener at Hawaii.

Fifth-year senior defensive end Kevin Greene is trying tight end for the first time in his career. USC has only three scholarship tight ends -- Randall Telfer, Xavier Grimble and Jalen Cope-Fitzpatrick -- and Telfer was sidelined for part of Sunday’s practice with an unknown issue.

Greene, listed at 6-foot-4, 255 pounds, said he played receiver in high school but had no real experience at tight end. It’s not known how long the experiment might last.

Asked if he talked trash to the D, Greene said, “It’s very hard to trash-talk when you don’t know what you’re doing.”

Greene is too big to fill a traditional receiver spot, but the Trojans have severe depth issues there as well, with only five scholarship receivers. Marqise Lee and Nelson Agholor are the obvious starters, with Darreus Rogers, De’Von Flournoy and Victor Blackwell competing for the No. 3 spot.

For those who don't check newspaper bylines on a regular basis -- and I don't blame you, why would you? -- I covered the NCAA Tournament basketball action in Los Angeles this week and was away from USC. My thanks to Joey Kaufman, who filled in very capably for three practices, and whose work I'll link to at the bottom of this post. A reminder that all of the USC news from the Register can be found at www.ocregister.com/sections/sports/usc every day, with this blog as supplemental coverage. Here's a quick rundown of the top story lines of the week. USC returns to practice on Tuesday afternoon, on campus...

USC practice is underway in El Paso, in preparation for Monday's Sun Bowl game against Georgia Tech. Media members were allowed to watch the start of practice without any restrictions on reporting, so here are a couple items of note...

-- Matt Barkley attended practice (photo above), but wore only a jersey top and sweatpants, without helmet or pads. Barkley did not throw with the rest of the quarterbacks and did conditioning drills as practice began. Barkley has not practiced since he suffered a sprained shoulder Nov. 17 against UCLA. USC had hoped Barkley might be able to start practicing today, but his non-activity makes it rather unlikely that he will be able to play in the Sun Bowl.

-- Players were allowed to travel on their own to El Paso, post-Christmas. Gerald Bowman and Anthony Sarao didn't make it for practice but are scheduled to get into town tonight. Xavier Grimble and Nickell Robey arrived at the practice field on their own, after the team arrived on buses.

-- USC is practicing on artificial turf, on a field used by several local high schools. Sun Bowl Stadium has an artificial-turf field.

This probably isn't the type of bounce-back first half USC wanted to see.

After consecutive losses to Arizona and Oregon, the Trojans could have used a cathartic romp against Arizona State on Saturday at the Coliseum, but that's not how it's turning out so far in a 14-14 game at halftime.

Matt Barkley has throw for two touchdowns (13 of 20, 162 yards) but also has two interceptions, including one that was returned 76 yards for a touchdown by Arizona State's Alden Darby.

That gave Arizona State a 14-7 lead, but then after an exchange of punts, USC had its most successful drive of the half, a 13-play, 79-yard drive capped by a 4-yard pass from Barkley to tight end Xavier Grimble.

USC receiver Marqise Lee has seven catches for 136 yards, including an 80-yard touchdown that tied the game 7-7 late in the first quarter.

Not surprisingly, USC took a big fall in all the college football polls after yesterday's loss to Arizona. The Trojans fell to No. 17 in the BCS standings (from No. 9 last week), behind two-loss teams South Carolina (No. 8), Oklahoma (No. 12), Stanford (No. 14) and Texas A&M (No. 16). In the human polls, USC fell to No. 18 (from No. 10) in the AP poll, to No. 17 (from No. 8) in the coaches' poll and No. 16 (from No. 9) in the Harris Poll.

-- Kiffin said, in hindsight, he would have had Matt Barkley spike the ball before the second-to-last play of the game against Arizona, mostly to give a breather to Marqise Lee. Barkley instead ran a play, threw a deep route to Lee and took 14 seconds off the clock in the process, leaving USC with only a last-second heave to the end zone. ''That's on me,'' Kiffin said of the decision not to kill the clock.

-- On the other hand, Kiffin said he did not regret running a reverse on 4th-and-2 from the Arizona 29 early in the fourth quarter, with USC leading 28-26. Nor did Kiffin regret going for it on 4th-and-2 from the Arizona 15 late in the first quarter, when Arizona led 7-0. Barkley overthrew Xavier Grimble in the end zone on that play.

-- Before today's team meeting, Kiffin had a video made of every ''major penalty'' the Trojans have committed this season, and he showed it to players, hoping to reinforce the negatives that come from penalties (even in USC victories). ''We're not protecting the team with our decision-making,'' Kiffin said. ''There's a lot of selfishness in there.''